WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today the American Beverage Association (ABA) joined District of Columbia Mayor Adrian Fenty in the kick-off of a public recycling pilot project in downtown Washington. The pilot project is an effort to increase recycling in the downtown area, while also raising awareness about the importance of recycling. The Downtown DC Business Improvement District (BID) and District of Columbia Department of Public Works (DPW) also partnered in the event.

“We encourage everyone in the nation’s capital to ‘think inside the bin’ and drop their recyclable containers into recycle bins and give new life to their used beverage containers,” said Susan Neely, ABA president and CEO. “The beverage industry knows the value of recycling, and this is a tangible way for us to share that with the District and its residents. We are thrilled to be a part of this collaboration with D.C.’s Department of Public Works and Downtown BID and we look forward to working with Mayor Fenty to expand public recycling opportunities all over the city.”

ABA helped design the promotional materials for the new recycling campaign and provided funding for their production. These materials will inform District residents and visitors about the 25 new recycling bins prominently placed around the city’s lively downtown.

“The public recycling program is part of the Downtown BID’s new ‘Greening Downtown DC’ initiative, a comprehensive effort to make Downtown environmentally sustainable, competitive and attractive to stakeholders,” says Richard Bradley, executive director of the Downtown BID. “We will closely monitor how downtown workers, residents and visitors respond to the public recycling program and hope we will make a difference in how much people recycle. The Downtown BID fully supports the District government’s commitment to a smart, sustainable future.”

“This is an ongoing effort not only to make D.C. a cleaner city, but to teach its citizens and visitors the importance of recycling,” said Ellen Valentino, executive director of the Maryland/Delaware/District of Columbia Beverage Association, which also helped fund the effort.

The Downtown DC BID will spearhead and monitor the pilot project. It also will encourage the public to use the new blue recycling bins, which bear the logo of both the DPW and the Downtown BID, through public outreach. Part of this hands-on approach to encourage recycling will include distribution of ABA’s environmentally-friendly educational materials by the Downtown Safety and Maintenance (SAM) teams throughout the area.

The recycling pilot project will take place over the next six months. An assessment will be conducted within the first three months to measure the success of the effort and will be used to determine the need for an expansion of the program.

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The American Beverage Association is the trade association representing the broad spectrum of companies that manufacture and distribute non-alcoholic beverages in the United States. For more information on ABA, please visit the association’s Web site at www.ameribev.org or call the ABA communications team at (202) 463-6770.

The Downtown DC Business Improvement District (BID) is a private, non-profit organization that provides safety, hospitality, maintenance and beautification, homeless, economic development, transportation, streetscape and marketing services to Washington’s center city. Property owners have agreed to tax themselves to provide services to the Downtown BID area, which covers 138 blocks from Massachusetts Avenue on the north to Constitution Avenue on the south, and from Louisiana Avenue on the east to 16th Street on the west. For more information, visit www.downtowndc.org.